


Card tricks

by YvonneSilver



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Happy Sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-08 13:04:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4306212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YvonneSilver/pseuds/YvonneSilver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam finds a pack of cards and tries to remember a card trick</p>
            </blockquote>





	Card tricks

The bunker still has many closets and cabinets that haven’t been explored yet. One afternoon, Sam comes across a shelf of board games – chess and checkers sets, dominoes, sets of dice, poker chips. His first instinct as always is to worry if they’re cursed games, and he wonders if he should leave this cupboard alone until Dean comes back. Then he thinks about it a little more clearly. People used to live in this place, they must’ve had to pass the time sometimes too. Not everything in the bunker is Man of Letters stuff.

Sitting on his haunches in front of the low cupboard, Sam picks up a pack of cards from the pile at the front. He makes himself comfortable at the library table, stretching his long legs out in front of him and taking a long draft of a bottle of beer before he opens the pack.

It’s a fairly new deck, plastic cards gleaming in the soft light. The back has a simple blue plaid design. In a swift move, Sam spreads them out like a fan on the table in front of him. Using the last card, he flips the whole fan over, the change rippling like a wave down the line until almost all the cards are face up. He halts the wave just before the end of the line, and pushes it back so the cards are face down once more. With one fell swoop of his right hand, he gathers them all together again.

Sam twists his fingers around the small pack and splits the deck into two with one hand, keeping half between index finger and thumb and the other half between ring finger and little finger. He transfers the second half to his other hand, runs his thumb along their edge. Placing the sets opposite each other on the table, he ruffles through them in a practiced shuffle. He gently picks up the intertwined cards and lets them shuffle into a single deck. He gathers it up in both hands, before repeating the shuffle.

He’s starting to get the hang of it again, and a small smile appears on his face. He straightens the pack, places it neatly on the table, and lifts the top card with his finger and thumb. He shows it to an imaginary audience with an earnest look of concentration. He shakes it once, twice, then straightens his hand, but his fingers don’t cooperate and the card flutters to the floor. Grinning, Sam retrieves it. It’s been a long time since his magic phase.

It takes a couple more tries, but finally he manages to make the card disappear behind his long fingers without fumbling. He gives his imaginary audience a careful wave with the seemingly empty hand, and then with a flick lets the card reappear between his thumb and forefinger. It’s no David Copperfield, but Sam can’t suppress a proud grin as he returns the card to the deck and lays out a game of Solitaire.


End file.
